THE DANAGLAS AND KENUZI. 295 



the steppe, is not sufficient to support them, and the migrating movement, which 

 attracts so many Danaglas towards the southern countries, also yearly brings a 

 number into the towns of Egypt to seek their fortune. Most of them become 

 servants in the palaces and hotels of Cairo ; others, clothed merely in a wide- 

 sleeved blue tunic, or else splendidly attired in brocade and gold, become sais, and 

 run before the carriages of the pashas and rich Europeans, Faithful and obedient, 

 relatively clean, nearly all knowing arithmetic, and how to read and write Arabic, 

 they are usually preferred to servants of other races. Those who succeed in 

 escaping diseases and accidents gradually manage to save a little, and when 

 sufficiently rich they return to their country and purchase a plot of land, and live 

 peacefully on their income. Egypt thus contributes to support the Nubian 

 population, thanks to the thrift of the immigrants ; but the taxes and exactions of 

 every kind have taken away from them much more than they ever received. 

 Before the Egyptian conquest the people of Nubia were certainly much better off 

 than they are at the present day ; in many places are to be seen on the rocks and 

 river banks the picturesque ruins of houses and even villages, such as would at 

 present be no longer built, whilst remains of abandoned agricultural tracts are 

 found at a height to which it is not now thought necessary to bring water. In 

 many a village the people no longer defend their dwellings, even against the 

 termites ; when the house falls they take refuge under a hut of branches or mats. 



Emigration on the one hand, and on the other the passage and sojourn of 

 officials and soldiers of all races, have naturally variously modified the primitive 

 type, and men and women are frequently met amongst the Nubians who recall the 

 type of the Retus, figured on the Egyptian monuments. But how many of them 

 are there who no longer possess the general character of the race, and whom 

 servitude and misery have rendered as cowardly, timid, and effeminate as the 

 fellahin ! But, taken collectively, the Nubians are active, cheerful, confiding and 

 gentle. But when brought into contact with the Egyptians they too often 

 contract their drunken habits. 



Since their conversion, the Nubians have become much more zealous partisans 

 of Islam than the lowland peasants of the Nile, and regularly observe the usual 

 prayers and prostrations. Nor are they incapable of a higher state of civilisation, 

 as is proved by the many Nubians who have had the opportunity of studying in 

 Cairo or even in Europe, and as was shown in the past by the existence of the 

 ancient pagan realm of Meroë, which was succeeded by the Christian states of 

 Dongola and Aloa. The name of ktrâgé, derived from the Grreek kyriaké, that is 

 to say " Day of the Lord," which they still use to designate the Sunday, is a 

 reminiscence of their now-extinct Christianity. 



The Danaglas and Kenuzi. 



The Barâbras, who are more especially termed Danaglas or Danaglehs, that is 

 "People of Dongola," live in southern Nubia, principally round the capital and 

 in the islands of the river. They differ from the northern Barbarins by their love 



